Tristan's a good guy, but pretty much every bot and scammer I come across is followed by him. They've clearly figured out he will follow them back out of habit.
Somebody needs to tell Snell that he really doesn't need to be following 138,000 accounts. That's straight-up spammer behavior, and calls into question his motivation for being here.
In fairness, that's only half of the number that follow him. I assume it's that sense of followback obligation that apparently existed at twitter. When big accounts do that, it gives spammy and scammy accounts legitimacy. He's not the only one doing it, but he's one of the biggest.
And that's the problem. Automatic follow-back
1) shows you don't care enough to research who you follow
2) is a gateway for clout-seekers
3) bot accounts search out high engagement accounts with high following numbers, knowing this combination is an easy "follow back" target for boosting clout.
I agree except for #1, because accounts with thousands of followers generally can't take the time to vet everybody. I'm only at 5k but can't check them all out, so I've opted to not follow back (unless I have good interactions with them). So even if they care, it's just not possible at that volume.
I just don't feel the need to research someone as a potential follow just because they follow me.
I choose to follow folks when I encounter a post of theirs that seems particularly insightful/illuminating - maybe in my replies, but largely I discover them in the replies of other people I follow.
Comments
https://bsky.app/profile/215poundsonthemoon.bsky.social/post/3li67w4hm5k2o
Total fraud.
That account is blocked.
1) shows you don't care enough to research who you follow
2) is a gateway for clout-seekers
3) bot accounts search out high engagement accounts with high following numbers, knowing this combination is an easy "follow back" target for boosting clout.
I choose to follow folks when I encounter a post of theirs that seems particularly insightful/illuminating - maybe in my replies, but largely I discover them in the replies of other people I follow.